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NCAAB Picks

NCAA Basketball Picks: Washington vs. UCLA

The UCLA Bruins have a losing record against the Washington Huskies during the Ben Howland era, which is important to consider when making your NCAA basketball picks Thursday night.

Let’s take a closer look at the betting odds for this
Pac-12 Conference matchup from Pauley Pavilion in Westwood.

ATS run

Washington snapped a four-game losing streak by capturing
a 96-92 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils as three-point home favorites
last Saturday, which also served as the program’s third consecutive spread
victory. The Huskies have definitely
been undervalued in the betting market during conference play, as they enter
this affair with a 7-2 against-the-spread (ATS) mark versus conference foes.

UCLA has lost back-to-back games for the first time
during the 2012-13 NCAA basketball season, as it attempts to bounce back from a
disappointing 75-71 overtime loss to the USC Trojans as 10-point home
favorites. The Bruins have failed to
cover the number in four of their last five games, while the UNDER is 3-2 in
that span.

Howland vs. Romar

Two of the longest tenured coaches in the Pac-12 Conference will
face off in this affair, with the Huskies going 11-8 under the direction of
Lorenzo Romar when taking on the Bruins during the Howland era. Romar always seems to get his squad up for
this conference rivalry, considering he spent four years as an assistant at
UCLA.

Muhammad needs to deliver

I was a bit surprised that the Bruins opened up as
eight-point home favorites in the betting market, as star freshman Shabazz
Muhammad has been dealing with flu-like symptoms for nearly a week. He leads the squad in averaging 18.4 points
per game, which is the second-highest scoring average among all Pac-12 players. The program is 8-1 when Muhammad finishes
with 20-plus points in the scoring column.

Conflicting numbers

The Huskies rank last in the conference in allowing
opponents to shoot 43.5 percent from the field, but they’re giving up 67.3
points per game. If the season ended
today—the points allowed mark would be the team’s best since the 2000 squad
surrendered 65.1 points per game. The
UNDER is 2-0 in Washington’s two games as road underdogs of 6.5 to 9 points
during the 2012-13 campaign.

[gameodds]14/219868/43/us[/gameodds]

Prediction

I’m going to recommend that readers back the Huskies as
one of their sports betting picks Thursday night, as I’ve established the
Bruins as seven-point home favorites in this affair. Washington will improve to 8-1 ATS in its
last nine games versus teams with a winning record.